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Sunday, March 9, 2014

Last week, I talked about soul-searching and my thought process as I determined whether to republish an older book as a self-published title. I considered the pros and cons and shared the angst. Ultimately, I decided to go ahead and publish a second edition of A CAT'S TALE.I'm really glad I made the post because I acquired new information as a result of it. A helpful commenter let me know that I don't need to wait until the publisher's version comes down before releasing a second edition. I did some research and confirmed that so long as I held the reversion of rights (which I do), then I am good to go.My first problem on the path to republishing wound up being one of file conversion. I possess electronic files for the first edition, but understandably, the original publisher doesn't want them used. Also relevant:

The publisher holds the copyright to the first edition cover.

The electronic files used for publication also contain the publisher's information.

You might wonder why I didn't simply use the most current DOC file on my hard drive. Good question. The answer: the galley stage of the publishing cycle. During galleys, changes are implemented manually so the published version is the most up-to-date. A friend helped me convert the PDF file to a DOC file. Good. The file came out of conversion loaded with extra tabs, extra section breaks, weird spacing and strange formatting. Bad. A week of editing and file formatting ensued. Another friend, Lisa Rayns (THANK YOU!) provided a second set of eyes. Armed with my new cover and clean document, I tackled Amazon KDP first. KDP is actually pretty easy. The best results are always obtained by uploading a Word document. Within an hour of hitting Publish, the second edition showed for sale on Amazon.Nook Press is a little more difficult to work with. The most peculiar feature is the total lack of support for page breaks. I used the same file that I uploaded to KDP but first I went through and replaced every single page break with a section break. Weird? Yes, but who am I to question the mysterious ways of B&N? Following hitting Publish on Nook Press, the file enters a Processing status. I have no idea how long it will remain there before it publishes.Finally, I uploaded a PDF version to All Romance ebooks. Still no Epub since I'm pulling out my hair trying to figure out how to format the file using Sigil. Later this week, I'll probably get around to uploading the files onto Smashwords. However, I've got THE MATING GAME galleys to review and I really need to get my tail in gear.

Alpha werewolf, Jared Kohl, wakes up in a vampire’s dungeon, swearing
revenge upon the wily Siamese werecat who lured him there with her
sultry lips and the sweetest tail. To escape his undead captor, all he
has to do is seduce the skittish puss and show her that trust is often a
hot and hard lesson to learn.

Enslaved feline shifter, Josephine Young, has learned the hard way
not to believe in anything or anyone—not men, not love, and certainly
not the blood-sucking mistress who tossed her into the cage with the
hungry beast she’d betrayed. But Josephine does what she must to
survive, including tempting the dominant werewolf to give her more than
promises.

Imprisoned for their blood, Jared and Josephine fight for survival
and discover a passion that neither can walk away from. Can these two
predators survive long enough to prove that cats and dogs can be more
than enemies?